A political writer and the founding editor of the online magazine Jacobin, he is a leading voice on the North American left who offers socialist perspectives on politics, economics and culture. The printed version is published quarterly and has 60,000 subscribers. He was vice-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America and the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in a Era of Extreme Inequality.

Sunkara is also a columnist for the The Guardian US, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Nation, among other media publications